Warning: Spoilers for Star Wars: Shadow of Maul #2

Shadow of Maul takes us to a new planet called Janix. The story follows the captain of the local tactical defence force, Brander Lawson, and his droid nicknamed Two Boots, as he investigates crime lords operating in the planet’s capital city, and navigates corruption amongst his own ranks. It’s an interesting crime-mystery story, but has one glaring omission; Maul, the titular character of the book, is missing from it save the last two pages. Maul’s main story will take place in the show this book is a prequel to, but it seems Maul doesn’t have much to do here.

Timeline: 18 BBY

Shadow of Maul takes place in 18 BBY (Before the Battle of Yavin), one year after the end of The Clone Wars, but still during the height of the Great Jedi Purge when the Inquisitors are hunting down the surviving Jedi of Order 66. After escaping Republic captivity of on the Venator-class Star Destroyer, Tribunal, Maul returned to the underworld, planning to rebuild his empire. Post The Bad Batch TV show, the Empire is still in their early days, and are still a minimal threat, allowing syndicates like Maul’s Shadow Collective to grow and rise in power amongst the shadows.

Maul is Still a Looming Threat, But Has Yet to Make Any Big Moves

As I said before, Shadow of Maul is the prequel comic series to the upcoming Disney+ show titled Maul – Shadow Lord with the first two episodes releasing April 6th, 2026. Maul – Shadow Lord bridges the gaps of Maul’s story between the events of The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels. It seems they’re saving the majority of Maul’s plan for the show, and using the comic to get him to where he needs to be when episode one starts. Maul doesn’t seem like he has much to do, the only thing he does in issue one is secure transportation to Janix.

Sadly, because of Maul’s minimal involvement in issue one, it feels like I was duped out of the Maul story I was looking forward to. Instead, this series seems to be developing new character Brander Lawson, who will make his animated debut in Maul – Shadow Lord. That’s not to say that Captain Lawson’s story is not interesting and well told, it’s just not what I was expecting. Looking at the covers for the next few issues, it seems that Lawson’s story will continue to be the focus, and Maul will continue to operate in the background.

Captain Brander Lawson’s Story is Unexpected, Yet Interesting

Ignoring the glaring exclusion of Maul, the story told in issue one of this comic is quite interesting. After a sting goes wrong, Brander Lawson is assigned a new team. Sure one of the officers under his lead is a mole, Captain Lawson sets up a trap, but the mole is assassinated by a third party, and now Lawson is being pressed by internal investigations. Lawson is an archetypal police officer with questionable morals, believing that things can’t get done without breaking a few rules. Him and his buddy cop droid TB0T have a dynamic that reminds me of Cassian Andor and K-2S0’S bantering.

Though I enjoy Captain Lawson’s do-what-has-to-be-done attitude, I do think he could’ve done well with some changes to his physical appearance. He stands out from the rest of his colleagues, wearing a brown jacket over his uniform, but I think they could have gone a step further and given him a Cad Bane like hat to resemble the style of wild west rangers, which I think would match his personality much better. I’m interested to see how he faces off against Maul. I assume he’ll learn about Maul in this series, but I don’t think they’ll meet until the show.

Star Wars: Shadow of Maul #1 is available now! – Star Wars: Shadow Of Maul #1

Next Week’s Comic Review:

• Imperial Guardians #1